Primary 2
The teacher in Primary 2 is Mrs Smith and the classroom assistant is Mrs Rice.
Primary 2 can be very busy as everyone has the opportunity to take part in lots of practical activities to enhance their learning and through the exploration of play.
Learning Through Play
During play based learning, indoor and outdoor, children have the time and opportunity to continue to develop literacy and numeracy skills and are encouraged to problem solve and carry out investigations. This happens through carefully planned play sessions which are based on interactive and interesting topics.
Topics throughout Primary 2 are Let's Celebrate (Birthdays/Parties), Houses and Homes, Pirates, The Farm, People Who Help Us and finishing off the year with Holidays and Weather.
Children are also given many opportunities to continue to develop skills such as sharing, taking turns, managing their own belongings and taking care of school equipment.
Outdoor Play
We focused on developing an outdoor play area to further develop outdoor learning opportunities. We have a range of resources including a Foundation Stage Outdoor Play Area which has a mud kitchen, bark area for digging, planters to develop horticultural skills and knowledge and also a quiet area. We also have a role-play house outside, moving vehicles, construction area bricks and tools, different blocks to build with and resources to balance on.
Literacy
During Primary 2, children continue to develop the skills to read and write by learning sounds and high frequency words. We continue to use the Jolly Phonics action songs to aid in remembering the sounds that the letters make. We start off the year by revising initial sounds and we use these to develop blending skills to create CVC words, CVCC and CCVC words. We also look at and learn double sounds and use these in our reading and writing. Each week we focus on some high frequency words to build up a bank and these are placed on our word wall.
We develop our reading skills during literacy and in smaller reading groups. We use different reading strategies to help us read our reading books, develop fluency and our confidence.
We continue to develop our writing skills focusing on letter formations, using finger spaces, full stops at the end of sentences and writing on the line.
During literacy, we look at different stories each week and carry out activities based on these such as sequencing the story in order using pictures, writing sentences, hot seating with a focus on characters and phonics activities.
Numeracy
During Primary 2, children continue to develop reading and writing numbers 0 - 20. We focus on number formations, counting, ordering and matching sets of objects to numbers within 20. We look at numbers that come before and after and use a number line during many activities. We develop number skills by adding and taking away, learning the different vocabulary used and different strategies to complete sums. We look at odd and even numbers and begin counting in 2s and 3s.
In Primary 2 we also learn 2D and 3D shape names and properties. We get very practical when learning about money. We learn about different measures such as time, weight, length and capacity. We develop data handling skills sorting different objects related to each topic.
On a Friday morning we focus on problem solving within numeracy. Throughout the year we look at different problem-solving strategies that could help us with different activities or topic based word problems.
ICT
In our classroom, we are very fortunate to have a large interactive whiteboard and a computer. Also within the school we have a computer suite and a set of iPads that can be used for ICT sessions. Within P2, we develop many ICT skills using all resources available. We use the interactive whiteboard to play educational literacy and numeracy games to enhance our learning. We also used the interactive whiteboard to be creative within each topic. Within P2 we use a coding app on the iPad called Scratch JR. As well as using touch screen technology we develop keyboard and mouse using skills to type out sentences and also to use Microsoft Paint to create pictures. Another piece of ICT technology we use are the BeeBots to enhance coding skills by planning a route for a BeeBot and many other activities.
Physical Education
During our weekly timetable we have two sessions of P.E. each week. We develop independence skills by changing into P.E. kits and then back into school uniforms. Throughout the year, children are given opportunities to develop knowledge, understanding and skills in athletics, dance, games and gymnastics.
During athletics we develop the core skills of running, jumping and throwing. Dance allows opportunities to work with different objects such as ribbons and scarves and the use of our own body movements to communicate ideas and express feelings. There is great enjoyment developing games skills through a range of activities and using a variety of equipment. Gymnastics allows children to explore, create, practice and improve body management skills.
